This invention relates to a railway vehicle of the type including a floor including at least one movable platform and a standard platform, the movable platform located opposite a door of the railway vehicle, the movable platform being capable of moving linearly vertically so that the height of the movable platform can be varied to match the height of the said platform to the height of a station platform, at least one first running board which can move linearly vertically and transversely being provided to fill the gap between the movable platform and the station platform when the said running board is in a deployed position.
Some railway vehicles are designed to provide access for and accommodate passengers having reduced mobility, who move for example by means of a wheelchair.
In such vehicles provision is generally made for lowering the height of the floor of the area opposite a door of the vehicle in order to approach the height of the station platform and thus prevent there being high steps rendering access to the railway vehicle difficult, in particular for wheelchairs.
In order to fill the gap between the lowered platform and a station platform a running board is provided which moves vertically with the platform and laterally towards the station platform. Thus a passenger with reduced mobility can get on or off the railway vehicle easily without having to negotiate an obstacle such as a step.
However the platform and the running board are generally only operated when a passenger with reduced mobility, a buggy or a goods trolley, has to get on or off the vehicle. For other passengers the platform remains immovable and passengers pass over the difference in height between the platform and the station platform without assistance. It may be that this difference in height is too much for some passengers who then have difficulty in getting on or off the vehicle.
In some cases, if the difference in height between the floor of the vehicle and the height of the station platform is too great, the running board is brought to the height of the platform. As the running board moves with the platform, the entire platform has to be lowered in order to place the running board at the required height, which is not very practical, all the more so as a step is created between the lowered platform and the rest of the structure of the floor of the railway vehicle, which hinders movement of passengers within the railway vehicle.